PS Thanks Brian!
On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Alison Croggon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Thanks Uche. And what a gorgeous hymeneal, Catherine!
>
> The first Sappho I read was Mary Barnard, and I still admire the grace
> of those translations. Diane Rayor's Sappho's Lyre (an anthology of
> all the then extant fragments of archaic lyric and women poets) was a
> revelation though. Something in those fragments - I suppose like
> looking at the remnants of Greek sculpture - where the imagination
> forms across a gulf of absence. Those glimpses still speak so vividly.
> "I have a beautiful child, her form / like golden flowers, beloved
> Kleis / whom I would not trade for all of Lydia..."
>
> I don't think Sappho was bawdy so much as erotic, Stephen. Anne Carson
> is certainly no prude, and she is a formidable scholar. Her
> translations of the Oresteia (and the essays that go with them) are
> revelatory. Do you know her book Eros the Bittersweet? A beautiful
> meditation on the erotics of language, and well worth getting hold of.
>
> xA
>
> On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 9:25 AM, Brian Hawkins <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> I can understand being haunted by the first stanza, but it's the last, in this version, that I really like. Greaved in gold! What a lovely phrase! And the three "-old"s, and the door-closing finality of the three heavy beats of "iron-beaked ship".
>>
>> Brian
>>
>> --- On Mon, 12/4/10, Alison Croggon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> From: Alison Croggon <[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: Re: New translation of the new Sappho
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Received: Monday, 12 April, 2010, 7:47 AM
>>
>> Thanks Uche.
>>
>> That reminds me that the final word in my four-volume fantasy series
>> comes from Sappho. (Supposedly a translation from from an older
>> version by one of my characters). I kind of liked smuggling her in:
>> and I don't think she would have minded. My version below.
>>
>> xA
>>
>> Some say an army of horsemen
>> some an army on foot
>> others say ships laden for war
>> are the fairest things on earth.
>>
>> But I say the fairest sight
>> on this dark earth
>> is the face of the one you love.
>>
>> Nor is it hard to understand:
>> love has humbled the hearts
>> of the proudest queens.
>>
>> And I would rather see you now
>> stepping over my threshold
>> than any soldier greaved in gold
>> or any iron-beaked ship.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 3:30 AM, Uche Ogbuji <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> Dropping a note to mention my translation of Sappho's Tithonus lyric.
>>>
>>> http://copia.posterous.com/notes-on-my-sappho-translation
>>>
>>> The poem itself is here, this week's poetry feature at The Nervous
>>> Breakdown:
>>>
>>> http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/sappho/2010/04/sappho-and-old-age/
>>>
>>> I'm also curious whether any list members were at the Association of Writers
>>> and Writing Programs conference, which was nearby to me in Denver this
>>> weekend. Of course I probably should have asked before the conference.
>>>
>>> http://www.awpwriter.org/conference/
>>>
>>> --
>>> Uche Ogbuji http://uche.ogbuji.net
>>> Founding Partner, Zepheira http://zepheira.com
>>> Linked-in profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ucheogbuji
>>> Articles: http://uche.ogbuji.net/tech/publications/
>>> TNB: http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/author/uogbuji/
>>> Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/uche
>>> Twitter: http://twitter.com/uogbuji
>>> http://www.google.com/profiles/uche.ogbuji
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
>> Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
>> Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
> Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
> Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
>
--
Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
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